A college on the Norfolk coast has hosted its first summit focusing on young people's mental health.
East Coast College (ECC), which has campuses in Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, held the inaugural Norfolk Children and Young People Mental Health Looking Forward summit last week.
It saw more than 90 delegates and speakers attend, and comes as part of the college's wider focus on improving wellbeing in young people.
Headline speakers at the event included Dr Arthur Evans Jr, who is chief executive and vice-president of the American Psychological Association and who has been recognised globally as an innovative policy maker.
Norman Lamb, MP for North Norfolk, also attended the event to showcase some of the ongoing work in schools across the region to improve wellbeing and mental health.
Stuart Rimmer, principal of the college, said: 'There is a huge ground swell of energy to tackle this societal issue. Where you live is sadly still the biggest indicator of your health status and chance of mental health recovery.
'This is the first time as a region we have assembled key influencers and decision makers from public and private sector, the clinicians, educators, the commissioning bodies, the voluntary sector and academics with a single focus on generating solutions and sharing the latest thinking.
'It was a great success and ECC is proud to provide civic leadership in this area. We want Norfolk to be the leading region in the country for supporting young people's good mental health.'
The event was organised with Elaine Bennett, a child and adolescent psychotherapeutic counsellor, with the aim of promoting the role that education can play in early identification and intervention with mental health concerns.
Nikki Lane, head of student services at ECC, presented some of the work the college has been undertaking in recent years.
She said: 'At ECC we are very positive about the immediate outcomes from the day for us, including working with our clinical commissioning group and with University of East Anglia PHD students around exciting research projects.'
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